title: Placenta previa: avoiding false-negative diagnoses.
abstract: A retrospective analysis of 102 patients with clinically suspected placenta previa revealed that ten women (10%) were correctly diagnosed as having placenta previa, while two women (2%) had false-positive diagnoses. Three of the ten women who were correctly diagnosed as having placenta previa had scans that could easily have been misinterpreted as normal. Because a false-negative diagnosis of placenta previa is clinically much more serious than a false-positive diagnosis, these cases are elaborated upon. Recognition of a laterally positioned placenta previa and observation of blood in the region of the internal cervical os should minimize false-negative diagnostic errors.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003951:Diagnostic Errors; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010923:Placenta Previa / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011247:Pregnancy; D014463:Ultrasonography